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A self-consciously quirky American indie pic, Milwaukee, Minnesota could really get on your nerves if you're not in the mood. Jane Fonda's son, Troy Garity, stars as a (very) simple 20-something lad whose mum (Debra Monk) does his "cooking and cleaning and thinking" for him. When she's killed in a hit and run 'accident', he's an easy target for competing con artists Tuey (Allison Folland) and Jerry (Randy Quaid), who are both after the money he's won as a champion ice fisher.

If What's Eating Gilbert Grape is your Citizen Kane then you'll may well love this determinedly offbeat drama. For everyone else, it's a bit of an effort, taking what feels like an extraordinarily long time (actually only 95 minutes) to tell a very obvious story. Garity is fine, given he's playing a one-dimensional Rain Man type with nowt to do but look dopey and drone out a bland voiceover.

"THE FILM FEELS CONCOCTED"

Randy Quaid has fun with a character who grows edgier and more interesting but never really more believable. Folland is just breathless. The only treat is Bruce Dern as Garity's overprotective employer. Providing more emotion and dignity than his bit-part deserves, looking like he's slept in his clothes for 20 years and lived a life steeped in regret, he gives the material a much-needed note of truth.

Compared to Dern's performance, the rest of the film feels concocted. It's been compared to the work of the Coens (Blood Simple, Fargo), but while it shares their general air of insincerity, Milwaukee, Minnesota never comes close to the brothers' wit or visual invention. Think less Fargo, more far gone.